


Mystic Forces

by minifandom



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Doctor Strange (2016) Spoilers, F/M, Just Friends, No relationship here just friendship, Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, follows movie plotline, my first fic so don't judge
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-06-19 04:38:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15502470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/minifandom/pseuds/minifandom
Summary: Stephen And O have known each other for years. When O gets the call that Stephen has been in a car accident it broke their heart. They stayed with him until he left the hospital, and far after. When Stephen left for Nepal they went with him. When he started studying in the mystic arts, they trained with him. They will defend the world from mystic threats together, want to come with?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This changes POV a few times, I don't really like that I did it it's just the way I wrote it I'm sorry about that. If you guys really hate it I'll try and rewrite it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This switches POV a few times, I don't like that that's the way I wrote but it's just how the chapter plays out, sorry.

My alarm clock goes off, three seconds late. At night I count the time until my alarm goes off, today it was three seconds late. I open the red and gold case sitting on my bedside table. My eye is sitting right there waiting for me, I pop it into my head and blink a few times to make sure it's good. I get out of bed, pull out my uniform from the closet, it is a black polo shirt with the bar logo on the left side of my chest. I hold it up to make sure it doesn't have anything on it, then I lay it on my bed. I pull out a pair of dark gray skinny jeans and lay them next to my uniform, and I go take a shower. I wash my hair, clean my body, and step out. I dry my hair, touch up my cat scratch, clean my piercings, put on my outfit for the day, and do my makeup. I tidy up the bathroom a little and send my family and Stephen a Good Morning text. I look at my cabinet that is filled with flower crowns and pull out a black and gray one. I slip it onto my head and walk to the front door. I put my keys, phone, and wallet into my backpack and head off to work.

I walk down the street looking around at all the people and things. I do this every day and it's the same view but I don't care. I look back in front of me to see a woman in a bright yellow outfit. She puts her hood down to reveal that she is bald and walks confidently away. I smile and continue on my way to work. I enter the bar and was greeted with a few regulars saying 'hello' to me. I politely say hello back, as I make my way to the employees only room. I go to my locker and place my backpack in. I walk out and behind the bar and put my apron on and start to work.

\----------------------------------

"Challenge round Billy'' I told him as I was working. He changes the song and I know it in a matter of seconds, "come on Billy, you gotta be messing with me" I tell him

"no, doctor"

"Feels So Good, Chuck Magione, 1977. Honestly, Billy, you said this one would be hard" "Ha! It's 1978" "No, Billy while Feels So Good may have charted in 1978, the album was released in December in 1977" "No, Wikipedia says-" "check again" I interrupt.

"Where do you store all this useless information," the nurse next to me asks

"useless? The man charted a top ten hit with a Flugelhorn, status Billy?" "1977" he replies "oh please, I hate you," the nurse next me says. "Woah!, Feels So Good doesn't it", I look up and see Dr. Palmer at the door. "Oh, I've got this, Stephen. You've done your bit. Go ahead we'll close up" the nurse suggests. I walk out to her, "What is that?" I ask

"GSW," she says handing me the device in her hand. "It's amazing you kept him alive. Apneic, further brain stem, testing after reflex test, I think I found the problem, Dr. Palmer. You left a bullet in his head", I turned the screen around showing her. "Thanks, It's impinging on the medulla. I need a specialist, Nick diagnosed brain death. Something about that doesn't seem right to me" she explains. "We have to run"

"Dr. West what are you doing? Hey!" Dr. Palmer says stopping the gurney.

"Organ harvesting, he's a donor." Dr. West explains. "Slow down, I did not agree to that" Dr. Palmer objects "I don't need you to. We've already called brain death."

"Prematurely, we need to get him prepped for sub occipital craniotomy," I say "I'm not going to let you operate on a dead man" Dr. West states "What do you see?" I ask. "A bullet?"  
"A perfect bullet. It's been hardened. You harden a bullet by alloying lead with antimony. A toxic metal, and if that leaks directly into the cerebral spinal fluids" I pause "rapid-onset central nervous system shut down". Dr. Palmer shines her light into the patient's eyes "we gotta go" she says looking back at us. "The patient's not dead but he's dying, do you still want to harvest his organs?" I state as I throw the device onto the gurney. "I'll assist you" Dr. West calls after us "No! Dr. Palmer will assist me"

I work on the patient's brain to get the bullet out. The room is quiet until Dr. Palmer speaks

"Thank you". The room falls silent once again. "Image status, STAT," Dr. Palmer says

"We don't have time for that" I reply. "You can't do it free hand," Dr. Palmer tells me "I can and I will" "this isn't the time for showing off, Strange". "How about ten minutes ago when you called the wrong time of death?". The room is silent, "cranial nerves in tact" I say, Dr. Palmer is handing me the tools I need to get this done. I almost have the bullet, "Dr. West cover your watch" I order. He covers his watch and I get the bullet. I slowly pull it out and set it on the tray in front of me. I look over at Dr. West and then throw my tools down. Mic drop. Dr. Palmer and I go and tell the patients family the good news. Walking down the hallway Dr. Palmer makes a comment,

"you know, you didn't have to humiliate him in front of everyone'' ''I didn't have to save his patient either. But, you know sometimes I just can't help myself" I smile. "Nick is a great doctor" "you came to me" "I needed a second opinion" "you had a second opinion, what you needed was a competent one" "well, all the more reason you should be my neurosurgeon on call. You can make such a difference".

"I can't work in your butcher shop" "Hey! Look he-" "Look, I'm using trans-sectioned spinal cords to stimulate neurogenesis in the central nervous system. My work is going to save thousands for years to come. In the ER, I get to save one drunk idiot with a gun". "Yeah, you're right. In the ER, you're only saving lives. There's no fame, there are no CNN interviews. Well, I guess I'll have to stick with Nick." "Oh, wait a minute. You're not, you guys aren't," "what?" "sleeping together, sorry, I thought that was implicit in my disgust" "Explicit, actually and no, I have a very strict rule against dating colleagues." "oh really?" "I call it the Strange policy". "Oh, well good! I'm glad something is named after me. You know, I invented a laminectomy procedure, and yet, somehow, no one wants to call it the Strange technique." "We invented that technique." " Well regardless, I'm very flattered by your policy. Look, I'm talking tonight at a Neurological Society dinner. Come with me." "Another speaking engagement? So romantic." "You used to love coming to those things with me. We had fun together. "No, you've had fun. They weren't about us, they were about you. Why don't you take O instead?" "Not only about me. Anyway, they are working tonight" "Stephen, everything is about you" "Maybe we can hyphenate, Strange-Palmer technique." "Palmer-Strange," Dr. Palmer said walking away from me.

After work, I go home. I take a shower, shave, and get dressed in a nice suit with a black bowtie. I go over to my watch drawer and look over it trying to find the perfect one. I pull out an analog watch with a light brown face and a brown strap. I pull out my phone for the first time today and see I have a message from O. It's a Good Morning text, they send one every day, it is just the kind of person they are. I quickly text back 'Good Evening' and head down to my car. I speed out of the garage and towards a small road outside New York City. It is placed on the edge of a mountain. My phone rings, I see Billy is calling me so I answer. "Billy! What have you got for me?"

"I've got a 35-year-old Air Force colonel. Crushed his lower spine in some kind of experimental armor. Mid-thoracic vertebral fracture." he states "Well, I could help, but so can fifty other people. Find me something worth my time." "I have a 68-year-old female with an advanced brain stem glioma." "Yeah, you want me to screw up my perfect record? Definitely not." It starts to rain so I put my windshield wipers on. "How about a 22-year-old female with an electronic implant in her brain to control schizophrenia struck by lightning?" "That does sound interesting. Could you send me the- got it" I'm looking down at my phone and not paying attention to the road. I hit the mountain and lose control of my car. It spins out and off the side of the cliff. I land in water. I come to and see flashes of lights and the hospital.

\---------------------------------

I finish my shift at the bar, take my apron off and place it back behind the counter, and head to the employees only room. I go to my locker and take my phone out of my backpack. I have six new messages, one from everyone in my family and one from Stephen. I also have two missed calls and a voicemail from Christine. I play the voicemail,

"O, it's Christine call me as soon as you get this". I call Christine back immediately, "What's wrong," I say as soon as she picks up, "Stephen has been in a car crash, please get to the hospital." "On my way", I hang up the phone shove it into my pocket. I grab my backpack and head outside. I grab a cab and I'm off to the hospital.

I arrive at the hospital, I pull out my wallet, pay my fair and leave. I text Christine to let her know I'm here. I walk in and she is waiting for me. I give her a hug when I see her. She hugs back, and when she finally let go I followed her to Stephen's room. When I arrive he's laying on the bed asleep.

"I am not going to bombard you with questions I am just going to ask these two. Will he be ok and can I stay with him until he leaves to make sure he's ok?" I ask Christine softly, she probably had a stressful night so she needs a break. "The most damage is in his hands, the nerves were damaged badly, but other than that he should be fine. You can stay with him until he is better, do you want me to run to your place and get you something to change into" she replies "that would be great, thank you, for everything." I give her my keys, give her one final hug and watch her walk out of the room. I sit down in the chair next to Stephen's bed and look him over. "I don't know if you can hear me but I love you and you're stuck with me from now on" I smile.


	2. Chapter 2

Christine arrived back at the hospital with a bag filled some of my clothes and a few flower crowns. 

"Thanks again for bringing me this stuff," I tell her when she hands me the bag, 

"no problem, let me know if anything happens I'll be back early tomorrow morning" she gives a quick smile and wave and then leaves for the night. I decide that it is to late to call my boss and tell her that I won't be in tomorrow morning, so I send a quick text saying my friend was in a car accident and that I wouldn't be there until the afternoon and I will call when it's not so late. I put my phone into my backpack and started counting. 

Stephen started to breath heavier, his head shifted slightly from side to side until he looked at me, "hey, It's okay, It's going to be ok" I stroked the hair from out of his face. He looks down at his hands, 

"w-what did they do?" he questioned 

"they rushed you in a chopper, but it took a little while to find you. Golden hours for the nerve damage went by while you were in the car." Christine explains next to me. "What did they do?" "eleven stainless steel pins in the bones, multiple torn ligaments, severe nerve damage in both hands. You were on the table for eleven hours" she tells him "look at these fixators" "no one could have done better", he turns his head to look at her "I could have done better". Stephen swipes through X-rays of his hands while I shave his face, the rain beats on the window as we sit in silence. The next day Christine removes the bandages from his hands, "no" Stephen whispers to himself. "Give your body time to heal" "you've ruined me".

\-----------------------

I'm sitting in a conference room trying to convince them to help me, "how long until till I can take it" 

"Dr. Strange, those tissues are still healing" "so speed it up, pass the stent under the brachial artery under the radial artery" 

"it's possible, experimental and expensive, but possible'' the female across from me says "all I need is possible". I am wheeled into an operating room, Christine follows behind me. I lay on the table, out cold, the hopefully skilled surgeons operating on my hands.

"Up, up" my 'coach' tells me. "Show me your strength" he persists, I grown and try to stretch my hand farther but I can't 

"this is useless" "it's not useless man, you can do this" "then answer me this bachelor's degree, have you ever know anyone with nerve damage this severe to do this and actually recover?" "One guy, yeah. Factory accident, broke his back, paralyzed, his leg wasted away, he had this pain in his shoulder from the wheelchair, he came in three times a week then one day he stopped coming, thought he was dead. A few years later he walked passed me on the street" "walked?" "yeah walked" "bullshit, show me his file" "it'll take me a while to pull the files from the archive, but if it proves your arrogant ass wrong it's worth it."

I wash my shaky hands in the bathroom sink, I try to shave my face but I can't, I drop the razor into the sink, full of water. 

"I looked at all your research, I read all the papers you've sent, it's not gonna work, I don't think you realize how severe the damage is, I-" Etienne says 

"look, here's the thing, I-" "tried and failed" "I-I understand, just here's the thing I-" "what you want from me is impossible, Stephen-" "come on" "I've got my own reputation to consider" "Etienne, wait" "I can't help you" "no, no, no, wait!". He hung up, I shove everything off the table in anger. 

"Hey," Christine says and she and O walk through the door with bags in their hands. 

"He won't do it," O asks, I shake my head, "Stephen I'm sorry" O starts 

"he's a hack, there's a new procedure in Tokyo. They culture donor stem cells and harvest them and 3-D print a scaffold, if I could just get a loan together, just-" "Stephen" O says "a small loan, 200,000" 

''Stephen, you've always spent money as fast as you can make it but now you're spending money you don't even have. Maybe it's time to consider stopping." Christine takes over for O "No! Now is the time not to stop because you see I'm not getting any better" "but this isn't medicine anymore this is mania, some things just can't be fixed" "life without my work-" "is still life this isn't the end. There are other things that can give your life meaning" "like what? Like you?" "and this is the part where you apologize" "and this is there part where you leave" "fine, I can't watch you do this to yourself anymore" "too difficult for you, is it?" "yes, it is, it breaks my heart to see you this way". "no, don't pity me" "I'm not pitying you" "oh yeah? Then what are you doing here? Bringing cheese and wine as if we're old friends going for a picnic? We are not friends Christine, we were barely lovers. You just love a sob story, don't you? Is that what I am to you now? Poor Stephen Strange, charity case. He finally needs me, another dreg of humanity for you to work on. Patch him up and send him back into the world, hearts just humming, you care so much don't you!" "Goodbye, Stephen" Christine picks up her purse and walks out leaving her key on the table. O give me a dirty look as I turn my back to them and walk to the window to look out over the city.

I'm going through my mail when I find a package from my physical therapist. I open it and there's a file inside. I open it and inside there is an orange note that says 'Told you so!'. There are also scans and records of the man we were talking about. I look through them, a name is printed on the lower corner of the x-rays, 'Pangborn, J.'.

"Come on man! Where is the competition?" 

"you talk a lot" I walk up to people playing basketball in a graffiti-covered area. A man walks over to his bag 

"Jonathan Pangborn, C7-C8 spinal cord injury, completed," I say to him 

"who are you" "paralyzed from the mid-chest down, partial paralysis of both hands" "I don't know you". "I'm Stephen Strange, I'm a neurosurgeon, was a neurosurgeon" "actually, you know what man, I do know you. I came to your office once, you refused to see me, I never got passed your assistant" "you were untreatable" "no glory for you in that right?" he starts to walk away "you came back from a place there is no way back from! I-I'm trying to find my own way back" I pull my hands out of my pockets and hold them up. 

"Hey, Pangborn, you in or you out" He waved them off "alright, I'd given up on my body. I thought my mind was the only thing I had left. I should at least try to elevate that. So I sat with gurus, and sacred women, strangers carried me to mountain tops to see holy men, and finally, I found my teacher, and my mind was elevated and my spirit deepened and somehow-" "your body healed" "yes, and there were deeper secrets to learn then, but I did not have the strength to receive them. I chose to settle for my miracle and came back home." He paused for a moment thinking about what he was going to say next "The place you are looking for is called Kamar-Taj, but the cost is high" "how much?" "I'm not talking about money, good luck" and with those final words he went back to his game "give me the ball".

I'm sitting in my apartment I pick up my phone and call O. 

"Hey, how are you feeling," they say 

"I'm leaving" "what?" "I'm going to Nepal for treatment" "I'm coming with you" they state "what?" "I'll pack a bag and be over there in forty-five minutes" then they hung up. I pack a backpack and wait for O and sure enough exactly forty-five minutes later they show up. "Ready," they ask holding the straps of there backpack, "let's go".


End file.
